Senate flips on early school starts

Bill to let districts choose date OK'd

11:27 PM,
Feb. 12, 2014

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The state Senate has stripped a provision from state law setting the start of the school year no earlier than the third Monday of August.

"It will give authority back to local school boards," said Sen. Videt Carmichael, R-Meridian, a former principal who opposed the 2012 law that originally set the later start date.

Carmichael was successful Monday in getting the amendment passed, by a vote of 31-15, to allow local school districts to decide when they want to start the school year. In a spirited debate on the Senate floor, Senate Education Chairman Gray Tollison defended the later school year ...